Coming up in August, One Little Bite brings you "30 Days, 30 Lunch Ideas," with recipes, packing tips, and snack suggestions to get you prepped for the new school year. Here, tips on tasty sandwiches that won't go soggy by cafeteria time.


A pressed sandwich should be juicy, not soggy, which is why it's best to use oil-based ingredients (olive spreads, vegetables in oil marinades) and not vinegar-based or watery ingredients (avoid horseradish, pickles, and freshly cut tomatoes). This trio of recipes includes stateside riffs on Mediterranean favorites that pack in the protein, calcium, and vitamin C.

Check out recipes after the jump.
Continue reading Coming Soon: 30 Days, 30 Lunch Ideas »

I've always been inclined to love chef, cookbook author, and culinary instructor Jacques Pepin. And when I found myself sitting in a chocolate-infused room watching a cooking demonstration hosted by Scharffen Berger (in anticipation of the movie Julie and Julia, where Scharffen Berger chocolate actually makes a cameo appearance), I was already feeling the love. But Pepin really won me over when he described the bread and dark chocolate he ate every day after school as a child and said, "chocolate belongs to the kids."

Pepin was incredibly generous with cooking tips and recipes, including the following easy recipe for chocolate rochers with hazelnuts and cornflakes (after the jump). This overgrown kid will be eating these while watching Julie and Julia this weekend!

Continue reading Chocolate Rochers for the Movies »

Open Table presents their 2009 Diner's Choice winners, including this list of the top 50 kid-friendly restaurants. Don't miss Zingerman's, a Cookie staff favorite.

I get loads of new food products sent to me each week; sauces to try, snacks to sample--last week I received a Cuisinart waffle maker along with a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's and a can of organic breakfast batter that shoots out of a pressurized nozzle like whipping cream. These goodies usually pile up until I'm inevitably broke from spending too much money on farmers'-market veggies and pricey meals out--that's when I go grocery shopping in my own cubicle.

Last week my loot included Annie Chun's Chow Mein Noodles, Annie Chun's Peanut Sauce, and a jar of Coupla Guys Foods Sesame Sauce. I sautéed some diced scallion, several handfuls of chopped cabbage (try the cole slaw mix at your grocery store), carrot strips, peas, and chopped peanuts in a little of the sesame sauce (careful, it's potent), tossed in the cooked chow mein, drizzled it with the peanut sauce, and topped it with fresh bean sprouts. Bulk it up with chicken or tofu and, ta-da! Dinner.

Check out Cookie's customizable sesame noodles recipe, or another favorite here.

Organic food is no healthier than regularly produced food, according to a study from London that I'm having a hard time getting my head around. From one of the report's authors-- 

Bruce Sherman, chef at Chicago's North Pond restaurant, tosses together this summery salad for his two daughters. In a medium-size bowl, moisten one box of couscous with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and let it stand for five minutes. Bring 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock to a boil and pour it over the couscous. Cover the bowl with plastic and let it stand five minutes. Meanwhile, prepare seasonal vegetables (fennel, carrots, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes) in your preferred manner (steam, blanch, grill) and dice them. Mix the veggies into the couscous, and then fold in a generous amount of grated Parmesan, chopped fresh basil, and dash of Tabasco. Sprinkle with fresh toasted almonds.

Here, we used fresh tomatoes, sautéed zucchini, and fennel in the couscous, then paired the salad with some chicken paillard: Pound a chicken breast flat, dip it in some beaten egg and then bread crumbs, and panfry it.

"The Sandwich Report," a research study commissioned by Hellmann's and Best Foods Mayonnaise as part of their Build the Perfect Sandwich program, claims that your favorite sandwich can offer a window into your personality type. I'm egg salad (and hence, apparently, "charming and energetic"); what are you? Click to the jump to find out.


Continue reading And the Sandwich Says... »

Aside from delicious recipes like this one for tomato, lime, and tortilla soup, we love the blog Sweet Fine Day for their gorgeous photos and familiar accounts of family woes and joys.